In Another Life
by CrypticCatalyst
Summary: Magnus and Alec get the chance to be together without the weight of Magnus's immortality looming over them like a dark cloud. But first, they need to meet for the first time, and remember what they used to be. Rated T. Flames will be eaten by narwhals. *IMPORTANT: ON HIATUS*
1. Prologue

**Warning: Character Death and Gore.**

"I can't believe we had to follow this stupid demon into here." Magnus complained.

"It'll be quick, it's just one." Alec assured him, taking out his seraph blade. They were in an empty construction site, waiting for Isabelle, Jace, Simon, and Clary to come just in case. Alec was highly skeptical that they actually needed to backup, but one never knew.

"I don't know, I'm getting a bad feeling about this." Magnus squeezed Alec's hand.

"Listen to the Shadowhunter that survived to be twenty years old." He sighed. "Even if there's a nest, then we have four people as backup."

"They're not here yet, Alexander. I can feel death coming." Magnus actually sounded… scared? This sparked fear in Alec as well.

"Death? We need to go." He turned to leave and was met with, oh, just _a hundred pairs of eyes._

"Get behind me," Magnus shouted, fingers ablaze with flames. Alec, who for some strange reason, felt fear unlike any other fear before. They were going to die.

* * *

Only half a mile away, Jace was inexplicably yelling at them to hurry, eyes wide with fear. Simon floored the gas and skidded to a stop before hitting the fence. The four of them scaled it as fast as they could. They were unprepared for what met their eyes.

One hundred demons. Alec and Magnus had climbed onto a stack of cars to try and escape any more battering, and were bleeding profusely from several wounds. Jace threw himself at the pack of demons, a whirlwind of destruction. Clary drew a rune on herself to attack without worrying about any counterattacks. Izzy's whip flashed in all directions, and Simon sent volley after volley of arrows.

Alec passed out from blood loss, his body wedging between two cars. Magnus turned to pull him out when the imminent death came to pass. One of the demons had completely gutted Magnus when his back was turned, and even Jace saw horror that he'd never seen before as the warlock, who had lived hundreds of years, fell to his knees, organs nearly spilling out of the wound. Clary screamed, unable to look away. The last sparks of magic before Magnus's life ended were used to try and heal Alec, not himself. Turning gray, his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed, dead.

"No!" Izzy screeched, slicing apart the demon who had done the act with indescribable hatred. Simon raced over to Alec and nearly vomited. When Alec had fallen between the cars, a shard of glass had punctured his back, impaling him.

Jace couldn't breathe. The parabatai bond that they shared for so long had vanished, leaving an empty feeling in his chest. They all simply cried silently, staring at the bodies of their brother and friend in utter disbelief. It had just been a routine mission.

After a few hours, Maryse and Robert went to find them. When they saw Alec, Maryse let out a terrible noise, a wail of anguish as she cradled Alec's lifeless body in her arms. Robert turned white, and then the tears came.

Simon was able to seal off his emotions long enough to phone Tessa Gray, asking that she bring the Silent Brothers. The night passed in a blur of pain and grief, and in the morning, it was decided that the bodies would be burned together, even though Magnus was a warlock, because their love struck a chord that even the Clave couldn't ignore.

And so their gravestones were put beside each other, and Alec's remains were used to add to the Silent City, AKA the City of Bones.

* * *

Time passed, and Jace always kept a place in his heart for his parabatai and brother. Clary was left with the lasting guilt, and the sight of so much blood and guts scarred her mind for several months in the aftermath. Isabelle had to learn to be an only child, and Maryse and Robert were be overprotective of her for the rest of her life. Simon was left to pick up the pieces. They all missed Magnus's sparkles and mocking grins, and the way that he looked at Alec, which made everyone feel like there was always going to be love in the world. They missed Alec's laugh and the way he always put others before himself. There was so much to miss that it was almost impossible to move on.

Jace always insisted that Alec wasn't truly gone, even after eighteen years had passed. Everyone thought that he had lost a bit of his mind in the pain of losing one whose soul he was bonded to, but he turned out to be right, in a way.

* * *

**A/N: Well that was probably depressing. Don't worry, things get better. This is more of a side project type thing for me, but if people actually like this then I will update more often. If you like Malec, then you can check out my other TMI fic, Lost and Found, if you haven't already *cue shameless self advertising jingle*. Tell me what you think, and stay awesome, guys. ;)**


	2. Have We Met Before?

Eighteen Years Later…

"Xander!" Mona called. "Hurry up!" She tugged on the arm of her older brother.

Alexander Gabriel Lumen was not impressed. He had specifically asked his family not to celebrate his birthday. They weren't surprised. He had always been the sort of person to never accept anything for himself, opting to help others instead. But here they were, dragging him to the beach, where someone who was as pale as him was doubtless going to get sunburned. Was he the only one on Earth with common sense?

"Why are you doing this to me?" He groaned.

"Because we care about you," His mother replied. That shut Xander up for the time being. Mona grabbed a blanket and spread it across the sand. "Now go have fun."

"Uhh…" By himself? On a beach? He nodded, pasting a smile onto his face, and walked over to the shadows of a resort. He leaned on the wall in the shade, closing his eyes and planning to fall asleep.

"Hey, are you okay?" A somewhat familiar voice asked. He opened his eyes and the boy standing before him gasped. He was even taller than Xander, with honey-colored skin, spiked black hair, and green eyes with flecks of gold. For a moment, Xander thought that they were cat eyes. It must have been an illusion, caused by their unusual color. He looked like someone he'd seen before, but he had no idea when or who. With all of these thoughts wandering around in his head, he almost didn't notice that the guy was only wearing trunks. Almost. His eyes lingered on his abs before responding.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying not to be fried." At this, the other boy chuckled.

"You here with anyone?"

"Just my family. They dragged me here for my birthday."

Surprise lit the other boy's eyes. "Well, it's my birthday too. I was trying to get away from my friend, Cam. She was getting all excited about me turning eighteen. Do you want to join us? It's no fun playing tag with only two people. Plus, I have some sunscreen."

"Sure, Magnus. But tag?" The name rolled off of his tongue so easily that he almost didn't realize that the boy, Magnus, had never told him his name.

"Have I met you before? How do you know my name?" Magnus narrowed his eyes.

"I-I didn't… I don't know how I knew." Xander bit his lip, trying to remember how he knew, and drew a blank.

"Okay." Magnus looked at him strangely. "What's your name? Oh wait, my psychic powers say that your name is… Alexander!"

"We have met before, haven't we?" Xander frowned at Magnus, who turned white.

"I just said a random name! There is no way!"

"We probably have met, and subconsciously remember each other's names," Xander reasoned, biting his lip.

"That's probably it. And Cam and I play tag because we have an excuse for kicking up sand onto the people trying to tan. Plus, it rests easy on our consciences because we tell ourselves that if it makes them get up and move to another place, we're saving them from skin cancer."

"Sounds devious. Who's it first?"

"It'll have to be Cam." Magnus waved at a girl as pale as Xander with emerald green eyes and cascading blond curls. He pointed at him, and then bolted.

"Magnus! What the hell?" Xander demanded, turning tail and following him past the sunbathers. They swore at the teens as they ran past, causing Magnus and Cam to laugh hysterically.

"Gotcha!" Cam screeched as she nearly tackled Magnus to the ground. Xander watched with amusement as the two behaved like young children, cackling and dashing around. Magnus shaded his eyes from the sun and looked around, eyes snagging on him.

"Don't do it!" He backed away.

"Sorry, but you're slower than Cam."

"Am I?" Xander had always been a gifted athlete, and it was with a very smug expression that he darted over to the fence, vaulting over it and slipping into the crowd of people around the bar.

"That's cheating," Cam complained. Xander glanced at his skin, sensing that he was going to start burning soon.

"I was promised sunscreen," He announced, returning back to the beach.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Pause!" Magnus yelled to Cam. "Follow me." They weaved around people lying on towels until they got to an especially colorful one that stood out. "Here." Magnus handed him the bottle, but when their skin touched, Xander's vision faded out.

* * *

_"You're covered in blood! If the Chairman consumes any of this and likes it, then I'll have a man-eating cat on my hands," Magnus complained, healing Alec's cuts with a burst of magic._

_"Sorry, Jace wasn't watching his back again. Izzy was able to kill the Iblis demons before too much damage was done, anyways."_

_"Iblis demons? Must bring back fond memories." Magnus chuckled. His face grew serious. "Promise me that you'll be careful."_

_"I promise you every day," Alec protested, a small smile turning up the corners of his mouth. _

_"And I expect you to." Magnus hugged him close._

* * *

Xander jerked away, dropping the sunscreen. Magnus's face was bloodless, eyes enormous.

"Did you see that?" He rasped, breath catching.

"Yeah, I did. What was that?"

"I don't know. I think it was us…"

"They were older than us."

"They had the same names."

"Was that just a hallucination? I don't understand!" Alec, no, Xander, he reminded himself sharply, clenched his fists together, his knuckles turning white. It was almost as if he remembered it happening, but it didn't match with his other memories and couldn't be real. Demons and magic didn't exist, and Xander never killed anything or anybody.

"It's time to go to lunch!" Mona called from across the beach.

"You live it Brooklyn?" Magnus asked him quickly. Xander didn't even question how he knew at this point.

"Yes. You?"

"Here's my address." He turned and pulled a notepad and pen out of his bag, scrawling down a street and apartment number. "We need to talk sometime."

"Okay," Xander stuttered, taking a few steps back. "Bye?"

"Adios." Magnus, his gaze unreadable, turned away, rejoining Cam at the water's edge. He didn't look back, and neither did Xander.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for that wait, and thanks for the review, follow, and favorites. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Thanks for reading, and stay awesome guys ;)**


	3. So This Is Real…

Was he going to do it? Xander took a deep breath. The week after they had first met at the beach, he had been very conflicted as to whether he wanted to find out things that he might rather want to stay unknown. But he couldn't get the image of the person that was both him and not him at the same time embracing Magnus.

"You've been distracted. What's up?" Mona curled up on his bed next to him.

"I don't know." Xander had always been close to his fifteen year old sister and loved her dearly, and he was reluctant to dump his problems on her. "Have you ever felt like there's a lot that you've forgotten, like there's a place in your mind that you can't access?"

"No… are you okay?" She placed her hand on his forehead, checking if he was fevered.

"I'm not sure. There's some stuff I need to do, Mona."

"Just remember that I care about you. Don't get hurt."

"I'll try not to." He stood up, making sure that the address was in his pocket, and stepped into his garage. Sliding onto his motorcycle and placing his helmet on, he could hear his heart pounding. He was afraid of what he would find.

Xander arrived at the apartment in question, nearly chewing his lip open. He quickly rang the doorbell before doubt could creep into his mind.

"Who is it?" Magnus yelled. Xander couldn't deny that he sort of was crushing on him, but whatever it was that was happening to them scared him.

"It's Alexander Lumen." At this, the door opened so quickly that he jumped. Magnus stood there in his glittery glory, regarding him thoughtfully for a moment.

"You need to come in right now! I've been waiting for you." Bewildered, Xander followed him inside and cautiously sat down on the couch. "So, have you remembered anything else?"

"No. Have you?" Remembered? What?

"I know that you were Alec Gideon Lightwood. I was Magnus Bane. That's all I've got." Magnus shrugged.

"Was? So you're saying that those things actually happened? Like, in the past?"

"I think so. I'm not sure what's going on."

"What's your last name?"

He blinked. "I didn't tell you? I'm Magnus Venenatis. A weird name for a weird person, right?" He grinned a bit at that. "Although I prefer the word eccentric."

"Wait, that's Latin. And in Latin, lumen means light." Xander realized.

"It can't be a coincidence." Magnus held out his hand. Xander hesitated, and then took it. The world spun in a vortex.

* * *

_"Magnus, I do love you. I'm completely over Jace and I want to prove it to you." Alec breathed. He took out what looked like a silver twig and Magnus wordlessly offered him his hand. Alec traced a design onto his hand, leaving what looked like ink on his skin where the stele touched him. Magnus did the same to Alec, cat eyes narrow in concentration._

_"I trust you, Angel. You don't need to do anything you're not comfortable with." Magnus said finally._

_"This is my choice." And Alec leaned forward to kiss him. Magnus looked shocked for a second before kissing him back. Clary and Izzy smiled encouragingly while Simon bounced on the balls of his feet and gave him a thumbs up. Maryse and Robert gaped at them in shock. The other Shadowhunters were murmuring amongst themselves, many giving the duo frowns of distaste. And neither Alec or Magnus cared._

* * *

Xander gasped for air, clutching his head. This memory filled in one of the vacant spaces in his head, but at a price. He now knew how real it was and could physically feel the pain of missing fragments of his mind.

"You were a Shadowhunter, I was a warlock. That was the Hall of Accords, before we battled against the demons." Magnus muttered, frowning. His hands shook. "It's like a fantasy book."

"My parents… they aren't my parents, but they still are. I can't explain! If this was me, then I'm two different people now. I'm on the edge of remembering, I just…" Xander groaned. "Am I Alec, or Xander?"

"Which is easier for you to answer to?"

"Just call me Alexander. You pretty much always did, even if I kept correcting you," He responded without thinking. They both stiffened.

"What else do you remember?" Magnus asked him gently. He looked so much older than he did when they'd met at the beach, probably not for the first time.

"My sister was Isabelle, and Jace was my brother, and my…" He searched for the word. "Parabatai. I'm not sure what that is. He was adopted. And then there was…Matt?"

"Max," Magnus supplied helpfully, the name popping into his head.

"He was killed." A fleeting image of a boy that looked a bit like him with big gray eyes and glasses passed through his mind. And then there was the wave of emotion that came with it. Fear, guilt, disbelief, pain, anger, the need for revenge. Without even knowing why, Alexander was suddenly sobbing.

"Are you okay?" Magnus was instantly holding him tight while avoiding touching his skin, as if keeping him from falling apart. It shocked Alexander that this was his automatic response to his distress.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why…" Alexander pulled away. "I probably should go…" he faltered, unsure of how to say goodbye.

"We used to love each other." Magnus's voice was so soft that Alexander could barely hear it. "Do you think we could again?"

"I don't understand any of this. I think we could, though." Alexander spoke slowly, carefully.

"I sort of recognized your eyes when I first saw you, you know. The bluest blue that I'd ever seen, and ever will see." Magnus stood with him, and with uncertainty dancing in his eyes, he hugged him close, bringing their lips together.

* * *

_"I'm worried, Mags. Sebastian's taken Jace, my parents don't care much about each other anymore, Clary is starting to get reckless, and Izzy and Simon are having some DTR issues in all of this." Alec sighed, leaning into his boyfriend._

_"Have faith, Alexander. Everything will work out." Magnus rested his head on Alec's shoulder, eyes empty. "I don't want to believe in the towers of bone and the streets of blood."_

_"So there are no guarantees that things will be okay?"_

_"There's nothing that can be done. Just remember that no matter what, I will always love you, and will do everything in my power to help in this war."_

_"It's not a war yet."_

_"It will be. The storm is coming, and nothing on this Earth can stop it."_

_Alec paused, absorbing this information with a somber expression. "I love you too." He whispered, the fear in the air would be tangible._

* * *

"Sorry," Magnus apologized once they pulled apart.

"It's fine. I'm just so…" Alexander grasped for the word as he opened the door, and looked back, deciding to leave his sentence hanging. "I'll be back tomorrow."

"Bye, Alexander."

"Call me Alec." And Alexander shut the door behind him, a small smile playing at his lips.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, but life happens and stuff. Y'all probably understand. Thanks for the reviews, follows and favorites. Anyways, I hope this was okay and thanks for reading. If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, feel free to leave it in a review or PM me. As always, stay awesome guys ;)**


	4. This Changes a Lot of Things

It was an understatement to say that Xander, or Alexander, or Alec, or whoever he was, was confused. At dinner, he stayed quiet, studying his mother, Marie, and Mona. His "father" had left after Mona was born. It was true that he looked quite different than the rest of his family. Marie had long, strawberry blond hair and hazel eyes, while Mona looked the same, except with brown hair. They were both slightly tanned, while Alexander was undoubtably un-tannable. He'd never questioned that he shared genetics with them, but now he had to wonder. Was his existence the work of the Angels? They really did exist, he knew that much.

Memories of a pale boy with brown hair standing before a glowing, golden being of Heaven itself crowded his mind, somewhat familiar, like something lost long ago and forgotten until you found it again. Since he'd spoken to Magnus, the images of the past had been resurfacing in his mind all on their own. One particular one disturbed him far more than the rest. There was Cam, but by another name, Camille Belcourt, and she laughing at him as he raised his seraph blade and glared at her with a ferocity that shocked him. He'd felt such hatred towards her, although why, he wasn't sure. She had been covered in blood, and had fangs, of all things.

"Earth the Xander, what are you thinking about?" Mona regarded him curiously.

"Nothing, Iz, I was just staring off into space." If Mona hadn't gasped, then he wouldn't have realized that he had misspoken. "I meant Mona. Sorry, I was thinking about someone from school."

"You just said that you weren't thinking about anything." His mom said mildly, setting down her fork and scrutinizing him.

"Oooh, do you like her?" Mona laughed. Alexander made a face at her.

"You know very well that I'm gay."

"Oh yeah. Oops." She shrugged.

"How can you just forget?" This was a pretty shocking development. He knew that before he was born the second time, so pretty much during his "first life", people were less than friendly towards people who were not heterosexual. There were quite a few bitter memories on the topic, in fact. Things got better, though, and now acceptance was the norm.

"I dunno. Sorry. It's just that you seem to have no interest in anyone, so I wonder if you are just asexual sometimes." Alexander laughed, thinking of a few nights in particular with a certain Magnus Bane that his memory had supplied him with.

"I've just been waiting for the right person." He shrugged.

"And when do you think that person will come?" His mother asked, leaning forward.

"I don't k-" Alexander's eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped in his seat, twitching a bit in what looked like a seizure to his mother and sister.

* * *

_"I have always been waiting for you my whole life, but I just didn't realize it, and now I've found you. I love you, Alexander. Of course I will." Magnus, for the first time since Alec had known him, looked as if he might cry. Alec himself was twenty by now, but had hardly changed since after the last war. Magnus liked to joke that his immortality was contagious, but afterwards they would both be a bit more solemn, a bit less carefree._

_"It's hard to believe how far we've come." Alec handed Magnus something small, which turned out to be the Lightwood ring. "I know that Dad might not be completely happy with me giving you this, but he supports my decisions more or less now."_

_"It feels like it was just yesterday when you showed up with your endearingly annoying friends and siblings. You were in the back of the group, and then, when you stepped out of the shadows, I knew that it was always you who was meant to be the one. That one boy with the bluest eyes, dark hair, and pale like you were under shining moonbeams, wearing this horrid, ragged, nondescript sweater and chewing your lip."_

_"I was scared." Alec laughed, red coloring his cheeks. "It seems so stupid now. I was such an idiot."_

_"You were cute."_

_"And you gained my upmost respect by looking at Jace like he was pond scum. His ego really needed to be taken down a few notches."_

_"Here." Magnus pulled off one of his many rings, a slim silver one set with a sapphire. Alec placed it on his ring finger, then hugged him close, burying his head in his shoulder._

_"I know that I'm sort of young, but we can wait a while and I wanted to make that promise now. Shadowhunters aren't known for their long life spans, you know."_

_"Don't even talk about that. You just ruined the moment, darling. Let me salvage it." Magnus scooped Alec up, wrapping his arms around his waist and kissing him in a way that inspired stars to keep shining._

* * *

Alec came out of his stupor. Marie was very close to calling the hospital at that point.

"I'm okay! Can I see the phone book?" He asked urgently.

"You looked like you were having a stroke! You're not okay." Marie hugged him close to her, and even though she had cared for him for eighteen years, to his guilt, he could only think, she's not my mother, she's not my mother, over and over.

"There's someone I really need to contact, Mom. It's more serious than you can imagine." Alec looked her in the eye, and after a brief stare-down, she finally gave in.

"It's in my office, under the stack of printer paper." The words had barely left her mouth when he had gone to retrieve it. Alec locked himself in his room and flipped through the pages at lighting speed, going through the entire section of last names starting with a B before realizing his error and skipping over to the Vs. He had no idea what he was going to say, and he didn't truly understand what he saw, but he knew enough that it scared him.

"Magnus?" He toyed with the edges of his sweater nervously.

"Alexander? What's wrong?" Magnus's voice was laced with concern.

"I was eating dinner, and I sort of spazzed out, full seizure style, and saw something…"

"I've been seeing things all evening. It's driving me crazy! What did you see?"

"So… um… did you know that we were sort of…"

"Sort of what?"

"Engaged?" He whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. Magnus was silent for so long that he thought that he hung up.

"No one else knew. We died only a month or two after." Magnus finally spoke, his voice as soft as Alec's. "I don't know about you, but tomorrow I plan on learning everything that happened. I'm tired of this vague shit that's happening to my mind."

"So am I. I'm coming to your place early tomorrow, and I'll stay as long as I have to."

"Okay. Just ring my doorbell over and over in an annoying way so that I know it's you."

"Bye."

"Bye." Alec hung up and lay on his bed for a long moment, staring at the ceiling. Somewhere in the back of his brain, he knew that he missed Shadowhunting and he missed Izzy and Jace and Clary and Simon. He missed Maryse and Robert, and he missed knowing Magnus as well as he knew himself. He missed knowing exactly who he was.

"Xander? I know you're in there." Mona opened the door, paper clip in hand.

"I told you not to break into my room. We established that when you were around five." Alec told her sharply.

"I heard what you said, and I want you to explain it to me, or else I'll take it to mom. What did you mean by being engaged to someone?"

* * *

**A/N: I haven't had much time to revise this, so sorry if this chapter sort of sucked. Thank you for the follows, favorites, and reviews! This month, I'm taking a lot of final Standards of Learning tests, so my updating schedule will be thrown off quite a bit. I promise that I will update after around two weeks at the latest. Thanks for reading, guys, and stay awesome :)**


	5. Well, the Place Looks Nice…

"I don't know what you're talking about." Alec struggled to keep his voice steady.

"Don't play stupid. I heard you."

"It's too complicated for you to understand. Besides, I'm currently not the one who's engaged. It's Alec Lightwood who was."

"Who's Alec Lightwood?" Mona demanded, looking even more confused.

"A very good friend of mine. I haven't seen him in a while, though."

"How come I've never met him?" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I dunno. Now go away, be a bother elsewhere." He nudged her out, locking the door resolutely behind her once more. It seemed like she was a stranger now. No, that couldn't be right. He remembered playing with her when they were little, he remembered them pulling "pranks" on their mom. She was his sister. As much as Jace was his brother. Because blood doesn't matter.

The next morning, he left a note for Marie and Mona and left immediately. The sun hadn't fully risen yet, but the soft light of dawn was enough to see by. Parking his motorcycle in front of amagnus's house, Alec hesitated. And then rang the doorbell almost twenty times in quick succession. Magnus came down a full two minutes later, wearing what actually qualified as normal clothes and blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"Alec. Did you see more in your dreams?"

"Surprisingly, no." Probably because he barely slept at all.

"I know my old address now. It's only a few streets away, but I haven't gone yet. Wanted to wait for you." He held open the door, and Alec stepped in, yawning. "Want coffee?"

"Alright."

"You like it black, right?" Magnus asked carefully.

"Yeah, I do." He accepted the cup cautiously. "Visions of the past are getting worse for me. We need to achieve total recall, because I can't go to school like this. Hell, I can't live like this."

"If we achieve total recall, you won't go to school anymore. You'll probably Ascend or something, go back to Shadowhunting. I know that you loved it. I don't know what I'll do. It's not like I can become a warlock again."

"Maybe you could Ascend too. Become a Shadowhunter."

"Perhaps." Magnus sounded skeptical, but Alec didn't push the matter.

"Ready?" Alec held out his hand.

"As I'll ever be." He took his hand, and another memory washed over them.

* * *

_"So, shall we watch Gilligan's Island? Episode one?"_

_"Do you think they'll be okay?" Alec ignored Magnus's query. "I've heard some pretty terrifying things happening at the Seelie Court." Alec chewed on his lip._

_"As long as they don't make the Queen mad, they'll be fine. Of course, they have Blondie, so yeah, they're screwed. Want popcorn?" Magnus lounged across the sofa lazily._

_"Okay." Alec answered softly, balancing carefully on the edge of the sofa so that he didn't make contact with the warlock._

_"Don't act like a stranger, Sweets. We've been dating for what, three weeks?" Magnus snapped his fingers, and a bowl of popcorn appeared in his hand. Placing it on the table, he sat up and wrapped his arms around the Shadowhunter. "I'm so lonelyyyyyyy…" He drew out the word. Then, he lay back, pulling Alec onto his stomach._

_Alec turned pink. "I-I…I mean, it's just that I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, or how to act. And it feels wrong to be happy when the Fae could be murdering my siblings."_

_"I was kidding earlier, they will be okay. I promise." Magnus tapped the tip of Alec's nose with a finger. "Now can you please get off me? You're so bony and sharp."_

_A slow smile spread across Alec's face. "But you did ask for this. If you don't like it, it's all on you." He rolled onto his stomach and used the warlock's chest as his pillow. _

_"I suppose you're right." Magnus relented, slumping in defeat. But his eyes sparked with mischief, and he upended the bowl onto Alec's head. The boy froze, eyes wide open in surprise, before brushing the bits of popcorn onto Magnus's face. They dissolved into laughter._

* * *

Alec opened his eyes, meeting Magnus's green ones. Magnus blew out a long breath, drumming his fingers on the table, and then straightened up.

"We're going to go to my old apartment. I think that there will be quite a few memory triggers waiting there. For both of us." He stated, walking outside. Alec followed him, leaving the cup on the counter. He sat down beside Magnus in an electric yellow Audi A3.

"So… who are your parents?"

"Which ones?" Magnus replied dully. "Perhaps the Indonesian-Dutch woman who killed herself sometime in the sixteenth century or so, and the demon Asmodeus? Or Lila and Jason Venenatis? Alec, you have to understand, I'm not sure which life I prefer right now. I do love you, don't get me wrong. But in my old life, I was used by Shadowhunters, condemned to centuries of watching those who I loved die, cursed by having demon blood, and for all means and purposes, an orphan."

"But I remember you always being okay with your life and who you were." Alec couldn't understand Magnus's discontent.

"Maybe I was. But now I have two caring parents, my own apartment, I'm college-bound and ready for a normal life. The problem is that right here," Magnus tapped his head, "you're Alec Lightwood again, more or less. Or maybe you've always had his mentality, always been _him _in the essence. But Magnus Bane and Magnus Venenatis are two very different people. There's a huge rift in age, species, upbringing, and experiences, which amounts to wisdom. Which I have next to none compared to Bane."

"But nevertheless, you're referring to yourself. I've had very different experiences as well. Xander and Alec are different people. But you can't deny that you're you, Mags." Alec could tell that he sounded upset, because Magnus's face softened.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you feel like I don't understand how you feel." He gently placed a hand on his arm, steering the car with the other. Eventually, they got out and stared at an old, obviously abandoned building. Magnus stared at it for around ten minutes, while Alec was hit by a strange sense of nostalgia so strong, his breath caught in his chest.

"Do you want to go inside?" He asked softly. Magnus nodded tentatively. Entering the apartment could offer physical evidence that this was all real. That there was a Shadow World, and an Alec Lightwood, a Magnus Bane.

Alec kicked open the door, which was very close to its breaking point anyways, and they stepped inside. Surprisingly, it was pretty well-kept internally. Someone had obviously been taking care of the place. Everything was ridiculously colorful and organized in its own way, which made sense to him somehow. There were some books strewn across the coffee table, and Alec examined one, dropping it with a gasp. Magnus looked up from a photo on the counter to see if anything had happened.

"This was my old copy of the Codex. I think I left it here."

"So you hadn't officially moved in with me, yet." Magnus mused as he gazed down at the photo, and Alec walked up behind him to peer at it as well. In the black and white picture, Magnus, looking around nineteen, had his arms around a guy his age in appearance with horns coming out of his forehead and a teenage girl with hair that looked white against her darker skin. The guy looked rather serious, and Magnus looked like he was teasing him, while the girl was laughing, hands over her mouth.

"These were my friends. They were warlocks too. That," He pointed at the girl, "was Catarina Loss. She was a healer. Had blue skin and white hair."

"And the other?"

"Um… that was… Ragnor. Ragnor… Fell. He was the grumpiest person you could ever meet. Stupidly proud of himself and his green-skinned glory. He had white hair too, I used to call the two of them old people. Oh, and he had double-jointed fingers, the freak." It was clear that although his words were less than kind, he held affection for his friend. And then, realization widened his eyes and sucked the blood from his cheeks. "H-he died." Magnus looked deeply depressed at this newly remembered information.

There were more pictures along the wall, depicting Magnus's many friends and adventures. Alec even saw one with the two of them kissing in the background while Jace tried to grab the phone from Izzy. Clary and Whatshisname… Simon stood a few yards away, snickering at Jace's fruitless attempts to retrieve his iPhone, pretty much obsolete technology nowadays. It wasn't too odd of a sight, as Marie Lumen was a conservative woman. Alec, or should he say, Xander, and Mona both had iPhone 6s, of all things.

"Wha-?" A female voice rang out in the silent building. Someone had discovered the broken door. A young woman stepped into sight, with piercing blue eyes, white hair, and most importantly, blue skin.

* * *

**A/N: First of all, I'm very pressed for time right now. As in, full panic mode. Didn't have much time to revise, and I typed this just around an hour ago, so I'm really sorry for its shortness, mistakes (both mechanical and plot-wise), and general terribleness. For those of you who are also following Lost and Found, I have a monster of a chapter (at least, compared to my other chapters) coming up tomorrow. I might update only once or twice throughout the rest of May, because my finals and Standards of Learning tests are approaching. I ask for your prayers. I may not make it out alive. Thanks for everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited, and as always, stay awesome, guys ;)**


	6. And Here's When Things Get Complicated

"Cat?" Magnus stared at her, eyes clouded.

"Who are you?" She sounded almost… scared. Alec couldn't help but stare at her. Such odd coloration kept drawing his attention to it, over and over again. He supposed that she was pretty in her own way, if not striking. Her eyes were even as intensely blue as his, but darker.

"It's me, I suppose. Magnus." He looked uncomfortable saying it, guilty that it was only part of the truth.

"Magnus Bane is dead. I attended his funeral. I don't know who you are." Then she saw Alec, and she went pale. To be exact, she went periwinkle. "Lightwood." She gasped. "What's going on? How are you alive?"

"It's a long story. And we aren't technically alive… I mean, we are. But we also died. And now I sound like a rambling psycho." Alec stuttered, deciding to close his mouth. While Magnus explained everything to Catarina, he wandered into the bedroom and was hit by a wave of memories, some that felt awkward to the parts of his mind that were still occupied by Xander Lumen. He shut the door, not wanting to face anything like that yet.

"Its completely plausible, if the Angels interfered. I don't know why they would, but they must have. I've never seen anything like this happen before. I know some spells that might help your memories come back faster." She paced around the living room, stopping and spinning around to give Magnus a huge hug. "I've missed you. You and your eccentricities."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that I'm the Magnus you remember. Not yet." He looked genuinely apologetic. "I know you cheat at cards, though."

"I'm sorry, Mr. I-Got-Kicked-Out-Of-Peru." She sighed. "Well, let's see what I can do. They don't call me a powerful warlock for nothing. Lightwood, Magnus told me that you're adjusting better than he is. Can you come here?"

"What are you going to do?" None of his memories supplied him with what he needed to be sure of whether or not to trust her. But she was Magnus's friend, and it was enough for him for the time being.

"I'll see if there is any preexisting repressed knowledge locked away in your mind. It won't hurt, I promise." She placed her hands on his temples and he felt her hands warm up as a foreign power invaded his brain.

"How did you know we were here?" Magnus questioned, still observing her warily, like she was a ghost.

"I didn't, I just come by here every once in a while to keep it in shape. Some things deserve to be preserved and remembered." She laughed lightly. "I still can't believe I'm talking to you. I've only just started accepting that you were gone, after knowing you for so many centuries."

"What about Jace, Isabelle, Clary, and Simon? And are my parents still… alive?" Alec hadn't allowed himself to nurture the notion before now.

"Maryse and Robert Lightwood are retired, alive, and their marriage had been renewed a few years back. Jace Herondale and Clarissa are married, and they have an eight year old daughter and a three year old son. They named the girl Alexis, after you. The boy's name is Jackson."

"Jace and Clary have two kids?! How old are they?" Alec hurriedly tried to do the math in his head.

"Jace is thirty seven now, Clarissa is thirty six."

"Holy shit, they got old." Alec muttered, disbelieving. "And Jace hasn't recklessly gotten himself or his children killed yet?"

"I know, I'm surprised too. Herondales have a way of growing up, though. Magnus could tell you. Eventually."

"Oh, you mean Will? Don't get me started on him." Magnus rolled his eyes.

"And what about my sister? Did she and Simon-?" By the Angel, his little sister was thirty six, and Simon was the age of Jace, at thirty seven. He couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"Yeah, she's married to him. One five year old son, named Maxwell." Catarina answered, still probing through his memories.

"Why name children after the dead? There's a better way to remember." Magnus whispered. Alec had to agree.

"How do you know so much about them?" Alec asked the female warlock, still in shock. Isabelle as a mother was something that was just too much for him to fathom.

"After Magnus died," She glanced at him, "I was the one the New York Institute hired for all of their magical needs. I've babysat once or twice as well. I'll take you over there as soon as we're done here."

"No, I want to wait until I'm the Alec they knew. I don't want to hurt anyone by being less than… me."

"But Xander is part of you, just like the mortal Magnus is part of me." Magnus reminded him softly. He still wasn't ready to let go.

"Oh, here, I think I've got it!" Indigo sparks sprayed from her fingers as her gaze narrowed in concentration. Alec heard something that could only be described as a click, and he fell to his knees, head buzzing.

"Alexander!" Magnus knelt beside him, placing his hands on his shoulders. And in an explosion of sounds and images, everything came rushing back.

"Magnus." He was seeing his fiancée, after eighteen years of starting over. But Magnus didn't recognize him for who he was yet. And that knowledge, accompanied with the waves of homesickness washing over him, he honestly felt sick. Eighteen years. Many people he knew could be dead.

"Yes, that's my name, don't wear it out. Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure."

"Here, I'll do you now." Catarina smiled at Alec as her magic scanned Magnus from head to foot. "And welcome back, Alexander."

"Thanks, Catarina." Xander was still there somewhere, holding memories of adventures with Mona and his childhood with Marie. But the Shadowhunter of days past was back.

Meanwhile, Magnus looked exceedingly uncomfortable and reluctant. He was comfortable with who he was, not knowing how much the old Magnus Bane was needed in the world. Alec's world. "I'm not really sure if I can do this."

"It's harder for me when you resist. Don't be so stubborn, Mags. Oh wait, that's a major element of your personality. Never mind." Catarina evidently couldn't resist a little jab at him. He had left her hanging for almost two decades, after all. Her familiarity didn't fail to calm some of his fears.

"Haha, watch me laugh." He snorted. Alec watched him painfully, with heightened awareness that it might take a while for his Magnus to come back. The teen who was previously a warlock saw the look on Alec's face and his eyes softened."What's wrong?"

"I-I'm not sure I know you."

"I'm still Magnus, always have been, always will be. That never changed."

"You don't really remember me. You aren't emotionally connected to the memories we've seen. I'm as much as a stranger to you." Alec clenched his fists. Don't break down.

"You're not." Magnus stared beseechingly at him, but he knew that Alec spoke the truth.

"Then tell me, why is Camille Belcourt, also known as your friend, Cam, an evil bitch that I would've killed, had Maureen not done the job for me?"

Magnus's face went blank. "She cheated on me, and…"

"…More importantly…" Alec prompted, focusing his sharp, sapphire gaze on him like a hawk watching a mouse.

"She… fine! I don't know! What?"

"She lied to me, manipulated me into thinking that she would tell me your secrets after making me feel insecure about our relationship, and caused us to break up after I made a stupid mistake." His eyes hardened even further. Cam didn't seem to have Camille's malicious qualities, but the Clave would be interested in finding out.

The Clave, who would first investigate him to see if he was who he said he was, try to figure out how his memories came with him during his reincarnation, and lock him up as half argued for him, half against, and there would always be some that refused to believe in the extraordinary set of circumstances that brought Alec together with Magnus after death. And why was Camille brought back as well? This didn't happen to everyone, just the three of them as far as he knew. Maybe it was a mistake, caused by her fate so closely intertwined with theirs, who played an important part in their love story, for better or worse.

Catarina grinned as she felt Magnus's mental walls crack a bit. "Okay, I've got it. Hang on." For someone who looked like a slim, petite teenager, she certainly radiated an aura of power rivaling what Magnus's used to be.

"Ow!" Magnus glared at her.

"Shut up!" She hissed between her teeth, irises darkening even further as even more magic flowed out of her hands and into Magnus's brain. He wisely shut up. Alec unconsciously traced the rune of good luck on the back of his hand with a finger. And then… silence. Catarina collapsed, completely drained. Alec eased her prone body onto the sofa before sitting beside Magnus.

"Are you okay? Do you remember?" He kept his hopes low. Magnus opened his eyes, gazing at him mutely for a moment, which only added to the tension.

"It's not the clearest, but centuries of memories rushing into your head will do that to you. And hello to you, too, Alexander." He cocked an eyebrow.

"By the Angel, it's you!" Everything had come to a full circle. Magnus embraced Alec and kissed him like they'd been apart for a thousand years instead of eighteen.

"This is really touching and all, but you made me burn all of my energy on you!" Catarina sat up weakly and gave Magnus the Death Stare.

"Thanks, Batty Catty. Sorry to make you feel blue." Magnus beamed at her. There was something off about him, but Alec ignored his intuition. His first mistake. Shadowhunters always learned to trust their intuition.

"Well, I'll-!" She burst out laughing. "Why did I ever miss you?"

"That's hurtful. Alexander, go be a Shadowhunter and kill the demon spawn."

"But I'm a Mundane." He responded. "I can't do shit." Xander bristled in the corner of his mind.

"So now you're offending Mundanes. Hell, I'm a Mundane. You just offended me! Shame on you." Magnus closed his eyes. Alec lay his head on his shoulder.

"I should've listened to you that day in the construction site."

"Well, now you know that I'm always right." Magnus's face grew serious. "So now what? What do we do?"

"Elope to Canada?" Alec offered, testing out Magnus's deflecting technique. What were they going to do? Everything felt so surreal. Alec and Xander tangled and tested together in one mind.

"Not the worst idea. Wasn't that what we were going to do?"

"No, we were just going to withhold the fact for a while." Alec corrected, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"What fact?" Catarina frowned.

"We were engaged." Magnus clasped Alec's hands in his own. But then an odd expression crossed his face, and his grip on Alec became one of iron. "No, you were engaged. But you are me, you imbecile! Arguing doesn't accomplish anything, warlock. You started it!" He began to bicker with himself.

"Magnus?" Alec whispered in a child's voice. _We have to help him! The warlock and Mundane are clashing_, Xander thought. "But how?" Alec asked aloud. _You don't need to speak to me out loud, since unlike Magnus, you and I are on good terms. I hope._ Yeah, we're good, Alec thought. Catarina was looking from Magnus to Alec, concern written across her face.

"Are you guys okay?" She sat up straight.

"He's worse off than me." Alec waved away her concern. "Mags, can you let go? I'm kind of losing circulation." He gave his hand a little tug.

Magnus looked up, guilt flashing in his eyes as he let go. "Oh! Sorry, Alec-Xander. It's Alec! Well, Xander's there too, and I'm sure he's not happy!"

"I'm fine, Magnus! You have to stop!" Xander shouted over the other's loud, aggravated voice. Catarina was gripping Magnus's shoulders, knuckles white as she rifled through his mind to figure out the problem. She received such a backlash of emotion that she was physically tossed across the room. She hit the wall and slid to the ground. A trickle of blood ran down her forehead.

"Fuck! Cat!" Magnus scrambled to her side, expression revealing his frustration he didn't have the magic to heal her. Alec checked her head and found a cut near the front of her head, probably from hitting the edge of a picture frame.

"Are there any other warlocks you know who are in there area?" He asked Magnus urgently. They couldn't take her to the Mundie hospital, but she could have a concussion. And they couldn't exactly turn themselves in to the Institute in this condition, unless they wanted to be put in the loony bin.

"Venenatis, get out." Magnus hissed. "Okay, I know Malcolm Fade. If the bastard hasn't changed his number in the last eighteen years, we're in business." He fumbled with his phone, extracting it from his pocket. Dialing in a number at top speed, he waited for Malcolm to pick up. Alec parted Catarina's hair to take a closer look at the wound. The Shadowhunter part of him assessed the damage. Possible concussion, undamaged skull, two inch long wound, cut in a somewhat clean line, no risk of infection if treated quickly, but somehow bleeding like a freaking waterfall.

"Catarina Loss in injured in the apartment of the late Magnus Bane, warlock assistance is needed. This is not a prank." He hung up and they waited, trying to stop the flow of blood. Less than ten minutes later, a presence that hadn't been there before appeared in the room with them.

"Bane. I knew it. And with a personality split the size of the Grand Canyon as well. How wonderful. You know very well that I'm no healer." Malcolm observed Magnus in disapproval, violet eyes glittering. "I suppose I'll see what I can do, for dear Rina here."

"Can you really trust him?" Alec and Xander simultaneously whispered to Magnus, their voice laced in skepticism.

"Yeah Bane, nice going. Shut up." Magnus muttered.

"Please stop. I can't deal with this right now, it's too insane. It's too much. Could we not have just died and had a nice, quiet, afterlife?" Alec groaned.

"Yeah, then I could be happy without any of this." Magnus grumbled, probably the Mundane half.

"Why are you being so stubborn! Together, you're Magnus! One cannot exist without the other. And I don't want anything to do with you until this gets sorted out, because we don't want to get thrown off as well. We're almost synchronized already." Xander spoke louder than Alec this time, his voice so certain that no one would doubt that he knew what he was saying to be true.

"I'm sorry! I just…" Magnus looked utterly defeated. Having a war raging in your head will do that to you.

"Accept that there are two of you, deal with it, and then agree to stop bickering like five year olds." Alec let his nail bite into his palms, drawing blood in the process. Magnus saw the liquid red, dark against his pale skin, and took Alec's hand, using the hem of his shirt to wipe it away. Alec blew out a long breath, curling up next to him and closing his was just so hard. Maybe there was a way for Alec and Xander to be one again, just like there could be for both Magnuses, the self-assured warlock and the more insecure Mundie. Magnus let Alexander lie against him limply, and they both watched as Malcolm Fade helped Catarina wake up. She stared at him for a second, and then jolted to her feet, cradling her head.

"Mal, what are you doing here?"

"You hit your head pretty hard, Dearie. These two, or should I say, four, made quite a fuss." Malcolm checked an invisible watch. "I'm not getting involved in this conundrum, so aufwiedersehen!" He vanished, and both warlocks (current and former) rolled their eyes.

"What a poser. Everyone knows that that was my signature dick move." Magnus placed his hands on his hips, and Alec laughed weakly.

"Okay, I think I did something wrong here. Let me fix it really fast, see if I can fuse your past and present selves together." Catarina flicked her wrist, but the sparks that came out immediately turned into bits of neon orange paint that landed in drops all over them.

"Why did you do that? Now everything's clashing!" Magnus complained loudly, his two halves completely agreeing for once.

"My magic's gone wonky. Probably from my recent head trauma. Fade didn't do bad, but he didn't exactly heal me fully either. It'll take a while to heal, and until then, you're under my custody."

"But what about Marie and Mona?" Xander demanded.

"We'll figure something out." Alec reassured him, neglecting to notice until it was too late that to Catarina and Magnus, it looked like he had answered himself. "We're okay."

"I'm am so confused right now. So just stop before my brain melts." She groaned.

"Sorry."

"Cat could pop in and do a memory edit once her magic is back in working order, so that they never knew you were gone." Magnus offered, glancing at said woman. She glared at him.

"I liked you better when you could actually do stuff for yourself."

"Hey!" The first Magnus was affronted because it wasn't his fault that he didn't have magic anymore, and the other was offended because he was a "useless Mundie" himself.

Alec offhandedly smeared some of the orange substance off of his arms and onto the sofa. Magnus stared at him in horror.

"Did you really just do that?" He frowned. Catarina snorted, and then collapsed into gales of laughter. Alec followed suit, while Magnus glared at them sulkily. "Why is this funny?"

"Because it just is." Alec shrugged. His eyes darkened once more. "What should we do?"

"And here's the part where I generously invite you to my humble abode, and you two be gracious guests and fail to trash it." Catarina sighed.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. I'm putting this on temporary hiatus due to the fact that I started too many simultaneous multichaps and I don't have time to keep up with all of them. It may take a while for me to get back to this, but I promise not to abandon, even though this chapter had me confusing even myself. I think I set myself up for writer's block, in fact. Thanks for support in the form of follows, favorites, and reviews, and as always, stay awesome, you guys!**


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